Sustainable Development = Environment + Markets + Society
This "equation" challenges us to ensure that we think logically, laterally and thoughtfully about each of our decisions. If this is all we achieve, it would be a huge step forward. In practice, we would stretch this definition to include monitoring for equity, gender, equitable opportunity, and other societal norms. Plus, global social justice must be maximised not just national social justice.
Is this equation fair? Does it make decisions so darn hard that we should rather take a simple course of action? Is it uncomfortable for too many people to take a logical approach to a complex problem? Are ‘tabloid’ solutions better because they are measurable if not actually helpful? Is it unhelpful because it cannot be “solved”?
To illustrate how poorly ‘sustainable development objectives’ are imbued in the climate change debate, let’s contrast emissions trading and food miles:
- emissions trading - Environmental and economic efficiency but require tweaking to ensure that poverty alleviation, and quality environmental mitigation are secured. An economist would see this as an attractive option. The political dimension would prove the trickiest to maximise.
- consumer-led campaigns - e.g. food miles - often fail on all three –
- environmental [local is not always best - thanks to imported animal feeds, hot-housing, road transport inefficiencies];
- economic [the complementarities between imported foods and domestic foods are so great – such as permanent shelf exposure – that solidarity is required not competition]
- social [recent research has shown that over one million livelihoods in rural sub-Saharan Africa alone rely on the UK’s consumption of fresh fruit and vegetables. Indeed, supermarkets are talking about so-called “fair miles” increasingly as a principle for procurement]
Should a decision maker or campaigner or activist or celebrity chef be asked to demonstrate they have thought about these three interlinked elements and considered the global as well as the local?
I feel the equation itself is helpful if only to make us all think / realise/ remember that there is a global social contract, there is an overriding objective, and many of the simple solutions are not going to help us win this time.
1 comment:
The problem with political environmentalists
I am not a huge Jonathan Porritt fan, but this article is great and shows how the environmental movement has been challenged to think about Sustainable Development along the lines I proposed. Yes, he's promoting his book - which i havent read - but it is great to see him "embracing capitalism as the only overarching system capable of achieving any kind of reconciliation between ecological sustainability on the one hand and the pursuit of prosperity and personal wellbeing on the other." He goes on to state and re-state his vision for "sustainable development comes right down to one all-important challenge: is it possible to conceptualise and then operationalise an alternative model of capitalism ... the case for sustainable development must be reframed if that is to happen. It must be as much about new opportunities for responsible wealth creation as about outlawing irresponsible wealth creation; it must draw on a core of ideas and values that speaks directly to people’s desire for a higher quality of life, emphasising enlightened self-interest and personal wellbeing of a different kind."
His article names and shames some environmental organisations which are being obstructive to the 'sustainable development' vision. Two years after he wrote, they have not listened to Porritt. These same organisations remain fiercely promoting food miles - Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace, WWF - imperiling the livelihoods and hampering the opportunities of millions of poor people in developing countries and proving themselves not to be global team players in the climate change debate or in our collective endeavour for equitable sustainable development.
Food miles/ NGO references:
WWF: http://www.panda.org/news_facts/newsroom/features/index.cfm?uNewsID=2198
Greenpeace: http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_6123.cfm
FOE: http://www.foe.co.uk/campaigns/real_food/issues/unfair_trade/
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